Bootcamps are designed to help individuals gain skills in a reasonably short amount of time to transition into different careers or to increase competency in a certain expertise. Rather than enrolling in a multi-year degree program, many students are opting to enhance their career potential and become professionals through short, intensive training courses like bootcamps. For example, coding bootcamps exist to help people gain the skills they need to transition into a career in web development. Bootcamps tend to be designed to provide a more direct path to your goal.

Many online coding bootcamps help you not only strengthen your technical skills but also your problem-solving skills and creativity. Bootcamps have become one of the most sought-after methods to obtain the additional skills required to cover the extra mile in your career. Over the last few years, boot camps have popped up all across the globe in disciplines ranging from software development, UX/UI design, and even software sales.

An online bootcamp could be right for you if you cannot afford the opportunity cost of quitting your job or if you don’t want to or can’t change your physical location. This post will mostly focus on the benefits of online coding bootcamps but many of these benefits also apply to any online bootcamps such as UX/UI and sales. Here’s a list of six benefits of online coding bootcamps to help you decide if one could be right for you. 

1. Online Bootcamps Allow For a More Flexible Schedule

Online coding bootcamps offer valuable flexibility and convenience for busy individuals. Whether a student’s schedule is filled with family obligations, a pressing full-time job, or both, attending classes on campus every week can be a challenge. Online programs provide schedule flexibility that allows students to complete coursework during hours that work best for them.

Since there are often no defined school hours, you can learn full-time if you want, but you can also learn on nights and weekends if it works better for you. This means that you don’t need to quit your job to attend an online coding bootcamp. For many people, quitting their job simply isn’t a viable option – whether they’re taking care of their families or can’t afford to give up a steady income for an extended period of time. Choosing an online coding bootcamp allows you to uphold your responsibilities while learning.

2. You Can Attend Regardless of Your Location

Completing a coding bootcamp online also has exceptional value for students who do not live near a bootcamp location. Universities and some traditional coding bootcamps require attendance in a physical location. This is the place where you’ll spend time doing the work and learning. But with an online program, the only thing you need to attend is access to the internet, your geographic location isn’t important. With the increasing rate of available coding positions and online bootcamps nationwide, it’s less likely you need to relocate. But do take note that students attending online bootcamps must have the discipline and work ethic to do the work, especially when someone isn’t looking over their shoulder. With an online coding bootcamp, you have the freedom to attend lectures from the comfort of your own home, which is a huge benefit if you have the discipline to stay on track on your own.

3. Learn New Skills in a Short Period of Time

If you want to learn new skills it could take you from 4-6 years with the traditional college route. When you attend an online bootcamp, you can bypass those years and go for an intensive training program that will help you learn those in demand skills in as little as several weeks or months. Courses at boot camps usually range between 4 and 30 weeks with a majority of them falling in the 9 to 12 weeks range. Although you may gain more overall knowledge at a traditional 4-year university, most bootcamps focus this intense, short term training on the fundamental skills that will help you break into a new career quickly.

4. Online Bootcamps are, Generally, More Affordable 

For many people looking to learn in-demand technical skills, a bootcamp acts as an affordable alternative to a regular, four-year college education. The price of attending a college for traditional education has skyrocketed. There are many costs that also come alongside tuition like housing, books, etc. that don’t come cheap. Some brick and mortar bootcamps can also be more expensive because of the expenses for paying for a space that is large enough to accommodate the students, instructors, and teaching assistants. These costs to the bootcamp may be passed down to the student via a higher tuition. By bypassing this cost altogether, online coding bootcamps tend to be more affordable and accessible for students. Some online coding bootcamps have a fixed-cost tuition and offer deferred payment options or Income Share Agreements. Others set a monthly fee for access to the curriculum and support community, since the amount of time each student spends coding could be different.

5. Peer Community 

Similar to having the support of instructors and tutors, being able to collaborate with peers improves the learning process significantly. It can be helpful to interact with other students who are going through the same ups and downs of learning as you.

Most online classes are very intentional about ensuring you are connected with an awesome network of students in your program, bootcamp grads, and instructors. Many use a real-time chat system, like Slack. Some will offer additional outlets to help foster the community and drive interactions between students at an even deeper level. The value of having peers beside you who are going through the same experience as you cannot be understated. Classmates are able to relate, provide their own unique perspectives and strengths, and help as you break down problems you might be facing. Not to mention, you’ll leave with the added benefit of having built a network of peers and friends that can help you in your future career.

6. Online Bootcamps Often Prepare You For The Real World

In terms of learning a new skill, and especially one that is going to be the center of your new career, nothing is more important than practical application. The core goal of many bootcamp experiences is to make sure that students are ready to land a job after graduating and are prepared for using the skills they learn in the real world. Employers value the ability to understand high-level concepts, but at the end of the day, it’s important to be able to apply the concepts you’ve learned in real life.

Online coding bootcamps often teach you the soft skills needed to succeed in the real world as well. For example, a soft skill that many bootcamps may teach you is how to work together with others. Regardless of the industry – engineering, accounting, marketing, etc – it’s important to know how to work alongside others. Online bootcamps help to prepare you for the real world by teaching you modern work skills.

Learning at a remote bootcamp also gives you the skills and experience to work remotely, if you so choose to later on. For example, attending an online coding bootcamp gives you the freedom to build your career by making you proficient at working remotely and learning multiple, sought after, coding languages. Having the ability to code multiple languages potentially allows you to have the flexibility to go anywhere in the world and work in multiple different development environments. You can also utilize your coding knowledge as a freelance programmer, and whether you build your own app/program or consult on other companies’ projects, you can potentially design a career and work schedule for yourself.

Deciding to go to an intensive, online bootcamp can help you break into a new career and gain new skills that can help you increase your experience and maybe even your income. It’s important to note here that before you even plan to attend a boot camp, you should acquire a bit of self-knowledge. For example, what exactly are you looking to get out of the boot camp – an entirely new career, a better job, or new opportunities? Since an online boot camp is a significant investment, and making a decision on the right one has important career implications, it’s essential to choose the one that will be right for you.

To help you get started and make the best decision, here are 5 tips to choosing the right boot camp for you.